Title: Assessment of South Atlantic Landscape Conservation Cooperative (SALCC)
aquatic indicators and development of additional aquatic indicators
Principle Investigators: Dr. Bill Pine, University of Florida; Dr. Catherine Phillips,
US Fish and Wildlife Service/SALCC
Objective: Assess how well SALCC aquatic indicators correlate with other
ecosystem components (species, habitats, and ecological processes) and
predictive landscape scale changes (climate change, sea level rise, land use
changes).
Purpose:
In 2012, the South Atlantic Landscape Conservation Cooperative (SALCC) began
development of its process to select natural resource indicators and targets as
specific landscape scale measures of success for natural resources. An indicator
was defined by the SALCC as a metric designed to inform easily and quickly about
the conditions of a system, where as a target is a numeric goal established for an
indicator. Recommendations were made to the SALCC steering committee in
March to recommend indicators for aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems.
Recommendations were based on input from 235 experts in marine, freshwater
and terrestrial resources in the SALCC geography and adjacent LCCs. Indicator
recommendations were considered in regards to ecological criteria, such as how
well indicators capture key ecosystem elements and major landscape threats;
practical criteria, such as the ability to model and monitor, and social criteria,
such as how well the indicators resonate with various audiences.
In natural resource management, “indicators” are often used as way to measure
change in a species, group of species, or a community as a response to
management or restoration actions. For these indicators to accurately index the
species or community, i.e., for the indicator to actually indicate what we think it is
showing, specific attributes of a species’ population must be chosen for
measurement. While ideally a huge suite of attributes for a wide range of species
might be known, ranging from demographic parameters to high resolution
occupancy data, in reality sampling programs are often limited in terms of
taxonometric scope or attributes measured. The primary objective (objective
one) of this work is to examine aquatic indicators approved by the steering
committee for a wide range of species and test the statistical linkages between
these indicators specified and their ability to represent the given ecosystem. A
secondary objective (objective two) is to examine integration of aquatic and
terrestrial indicators established by the Gulf Coast Plains and Ozarks and South
Atlantic LCCs, and explore development of other identified aquatic indicators
applicable to the SARP geography.
Methods
Aquatic indicators to be examined for the “freshwater aquatic” subgeography
includes: the percent of habitat near rivers and streams, percent of impervious
cover, and index of biological integrity. Aquatic indicators were also identified for
the “waterscapes” category, which specifically examines the connectivity along
the watershed from the headwaters to the ocean. Indicators to be examined in
this category include an index of fish passage, and the number of dams
incorporating natural flow regimes. An additional “second tier” indicator, instream flows, was identified as important and should be examined as a possibility
for future selection.
Data are readily available for validation of these indicators. A riparian assessment
for the entire Southeast was completed by the Southeastern Association
Restoration Partnership (SARP) Science and Data Committee in 2010. There are
also land use layers readily available for analysis of the percent of impervious
cover. In addition, most of the Southeastern states maintain their own indexes of
biological integrity on important watersheds. The index of fish passage can be
generated with basic available knowledge of major in-stream barriers as can the
presence of natural flow regime policies on major barriers.
Validation and testing of these aquatic indicators should assess the ability of
SALCC these indicators to correlate with important components of the ecosystem
that provide information about ecosystem integrity and habitat quality. In
addition, the relationship of indicators to landscape scale threats (land use
change, climate change, sea level rise, etc.) should be examined. We plan on
developing predictive spatial and statistical models that (1) use existing data on
riverine fish and invertebrate communities and in-stream habitat (e.g., flows
patterns), landscape factors (e.g., land use type, impervious surface), and
observed or predicted water quality data help to identify what ecosystem metrics
are common across reference systems within the SALCC (2) assess and screen the
utility of the first round of steering committee approved SALCC indicators, (3) and
recommend improvements to the SALCC indicator list given predicted changes in
climate, rainfall, and land use patterns within the SALCC.
Deliverables
Specific deliverables from objective one of the assessment will include:
 A final report containing findings and recommended improvements and
revisions to the SALCC aquatic indicators.
 A manuscript submitted to a peer-reviewed journal.
 A presentation made to the SALCC steering committee interpreting the
results of the assessment.
 An outreach document summarizing the results of the aquatic indicator
assessment in a manner that is easy to understand for a general audience.
Specific deliverables from objective two of the assessment will include:
 A final report (M.S. thesis) containing developed aquatic indicators and
linkages among aquatic and terrestrial indicators.
 A manuscript submitted to a peer-reviewed journal.
 An outreach document summarizing the results of the aquatic integration
exercise in a manner that is easy to understand for a general audience.
This work will be conducted by a Post-doctoral scientist (objective one) and a
Masters of Science student (objective two) based at the University of Florida and
supervised by Dr. Bill Pine, and will work closely with SALCC staff members,
particularly Dr. Catherine Phillips, who will help to facilitate data compilation and
facilitate interface with SALCC members.
Budget – Objective 1
Year 1 or 1
Salary
Post-doc
Fringe
$
46,000
8.30% $
3,818
$
4,861
26.90% $
1,308
OPS assistant@$10/hour $
3.10% $
800
25
PI (0.5 month)
Salary
Fringe
Travel
Mileage
$
2,136
trips
Lodging
$
5,440
trips
Per diem
$
2,304
trips
Car rental
$
800
trips
OE
Computer
Computer supplies
$
$
1,550
500
$
69,541
15% $
10,431
$
79,973
Sub-Total
IDC
Grand Total
miles
rate
8
600
$ 0.445
people nights
rate
8
2
4 $
85
people nights
rate
8
2
4 $
36
nights
rate
8
4 $
25
2013 rate to CESU
Budget – Objective 2
Year 1
Year 2
M.S. student salary
$18,340
$18,340
Fringe (8.3%)
$ 1,660
$ 1,660
$20,000
$20,000
Total Objective 2: $40,000.00